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Stories   >   For 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landings, celebrations of the solar system and planet earth take centre stage at this year's Proms / BBC Music Magazine

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For 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landings, celebrations of the solar system and planet earth take centre stage at this year's Proms / BBC Music Magazine

Posted: April 18, 2019

The programme for this year's BBC Proms has been revealed, with major celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landings scheduled across the season. Founder and conductor Sir Henry Wood is also honoured this year, as the Proms celebrates the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Composers have long been inspired by the sound of space, imagined or otherwise. This year's  season will highlight some of these works to mark the anniversary of the moon landings. Holst's The Planets and John Adams's Short Ride in a Fast Machine will be performed, as well as premieres of Anna Thorvaldsdottir's Metacosmos, which is focused around the concept of black holes, and a work by Zosha Di Castri about the moon landings, which will be the first piece heard at the 2019 Proms. 

Public Service Broadcasting has its own Late Night Prom this year, orchestrating its 2015 concept album The Race for Space, which blends music with broadcast recordings from the US/USSR Space Race era. Expanding on the space theme further, there will also be a Sci-Fi Film Music Prom in which the London Contemporary Orchestra will take on legendary scores from cult sci-fi films. 

Exploring how our role on earth ties in with the solar system, Hans Zimmer has been commissioned by the BBC for this year's Ten Pieces scheme. His new work, Earth, will be performed in the CBeebies Prom by the Chineke! Orchestra. This Prom will also be broadcast on CBeebies. 

The BBC Proms will take place from Friday 19 July to Saturday 14 September 2019. All Proms will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and 25 of the concerts will be available to watch on BBC TV. 

READ THE FULL BBC Music Magazine ARTICLE